London’s Heathrow Airport closes all day over power outage

Heathrow Airport will be closed for all of Friday over a “significant” power outage linked to a fire at a nearby electrical substation that supplies it.

The airport, which is the UK’s busiest, has warned of “significant disruption” over the coming days and told passengers not to travel “under any circumstances” until it reopens.

“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 on 21 March 2025,” a spokesperson said.

“We know this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we are working as hard as possible to resolve the situation,” they added.

“Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored,” the Heathrow spokesperson said.

The airport has apologised for the disruption and has advised passengers to contact their airlines for further information.

Heathrow is the UK’s largest aviation hub, handling around 1,300 landings and take-offs each day. A record 83.9 million passengers passed through its terminals last year, according to its latest data.

At least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow will be affected on Friday, flight tracking website Flightradar24 said on X, with some 120 affected aircraft already in the air when the closure was announced.

Seven United Airlines flights bound for Heathrow have returned to their origin or been diverted to other airports, the US-based carrier told BBC News.

Australia’s flagship Qantas airline told BBC News two of its flights have been diverted from London to Paris.

BBC journalist Thomas Mackintosh was among a few bleary-eyed Scots in Athens who attended a football match against Greece on Thursday but were up before sunrise for a flight to Heathrow.

The group had cleared passport control and security in good time and as they were queuing for some breakfast a staff member shouted: “All flights to Heathrow cancelled.” A glance at the departure board confirmed that was the case.

When the passengers asked why, they were told all flights to Heathrow on Friday had been cancelled due to a fire.

They were then huddled among 50 other passengers and walked back through passport control to re-enter Greece.

Plenty of passengers were planning on getting a connecting flight up to Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen. They have been looking at re-booking via other European cities for an unknown cost at this last minute.

The fire at the substation in Hayes, in west London, has left thousands of homes without power and caused around 150 people to be evacuated from surrounding properties.

Emergency services were first called to the scene at 23:23 on Thursday, and video shared on social media showed tall flames and smoke billowing from the substation overnight.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.

Half of a transformer within the substation was still alight at 04:08, according to the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters have been sent to tackle the blaze, the LFB said.

A 200-metre cordon has been put in place as a precaution, and local residents have been advised to keep doors and windows closed because of a “significant amount of smoke”.

More than 16,300 homes have lost power in a large-scale outage cause by the fire, energy supplier Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said on X.

“We’re aware of a widespread power cut affecting many of our customers around the Hayes, Hounslow and surrounding areas,” it added.

The LFB said it had received nearly 200 calls about the fire.

“This is a highly visible and significant incident, and our firefighters are working tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” said LFB Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulborne.

“This will be a prolonged incident, with crews remaining on scene throughout the night,” he added.

“As we head into the morning, disruption is expected to increase, and we urge people to avoid the area wherever possible.”